5-year-old girl identified after hit, killed by car in Lehi school parking lot

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Stella Ferrazzano Courtesy: Sara Beth Wright Facebook

LEHI, Utah - Family members said 5-year-old Stella Ferrazzano was the girl killed after getting hit by a car in the parking lot of an elementary school Thursday afternoon.

Police said the child ran ahead of an adult and sibling.

Authorities said the accident happened in the Meadow Elementary and Mountainland Headstart parking lot near 176 S. 500 W. at about noon.

Alpine School District officials said Ferrazzano was with her mother and a 3-year-old sibling when she was hit by the car.

Fire officials at the scene said that a woman was holding each sibling by the hand, one in each hand, when one child broke away.

"Mom, when she left the school, was holding the hand of the 3-year-old and the 5-year-old," said Lehi Fire Department Chief Jerry Craft. "Something happened, and we don't know what, and the 5-year-old got away from her."

Stella Ferrazzano Courtesy: Sara Beth Wright Facebook

After Ferrazzano broke free, she was hit by a vehicle.

The driver of the car that hit her was picking up a kindergarten student at Meadow Elementary.

Fire officials said they have no reason to suspect that driver was speeding or impaired in any way.

School officials said they release students to be picked up a few kids at a time, so they said only a few students witnessed the crash.

Alpine School District had grief counselors on-hand at the elementary school Thursday, and those counselors will again be available Friday.

Having been a professional driver for years, I can say that even when an accident is “not your fault” doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t preventable. While I feel for the driver of the vehicle, she would know there are young children there–children who don’t think like adults are supposed to–like she should have been. Parents, PLEASE act responsibly! Even though there was no mention of a cell phone, that is the WORST place to be speaking on yours. EVERY SINGLE DAY a parent on their cell phone drives through the parking lot at the elementary school. BE AN EXAMPLE and DRIVE RESPONSIBLY! This accident could have been avoided, regardless of whose fault it was. That little girl could still be alive.

ANOTHERBOB

There was zero indication that the driver was “speeding or impaired in any way”. The fault, as you put it, appears to be a small child who didn’t understand the dangers darting in the path of a slow moving vehicle.
The accident was tragic and the one blaming herself right now is a grieving mother who didn’t anticipate her child darting away.

freewill2

you have no idea what factors were involved, the life of this driver has been ruined for the rest of her life..and you are doing nothing to comfort the parents of this tragedy..and I am speaking as a professional driver..

So you were a “professional driver” for years and now you are a soothsayer, I’m assuming? I mean, you are so passionately convinced of what happened, you must have seen it and yet you were not there. Goodness, I truly hope the driver never comes across your commentary.